Someone Missing
by The Big Hosepipe in the Sky
Summary: Seven years after Sapphire leaves for ingo her sister Melwyn seeks out to find her sister that she lost at just four years old but when she finds more questions then answers will she discover the family secret or will it remain hidden forever?
1. When a child is born

**~~Hiya I've decided to stop my other story for a bit at least and write this. This chapter is about Sapphire, but later it will be more about my oc, but still with a lot of Sapphire, plus other key characters. Thanks SapphireOceans for betaing.~~**

**Disclaimer: I hold no right over Ingo and never will(sadly but then again Ingo would not be nearly as good if I wrote it).**

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><p><strong>Chapter<strong> **One  
><strong>_When A Child Is Born_

"So what names did you come up with?" asks Conor.

We're at the hospital waiting for our new brother or sister to be born. Mum said I could pick the first name if it's a girl or the middle name if it's a boy, and that Conor could pick the first name if it's a boy or the middle name if it's a girl. I have a nagging suspicion that she didn't want us to feel left out, as we're older than most people are when new siblings are born, but really I don't care. It's not like I'm the youngest anymore anyway; there's my little half-brother, Gorran, who Mum knows nothing about. But to her, I'm still little Sapphy, the youngest, or something like that anyway.

"Melwyn for a girl, or Jury for a boy. What 'bout you?"

"Gregory or Zennor."

"Zennor? As in the church?" I ask.

"Yeah. I figured she'd fit right into our family with that in her name."

Conor's right; with that name she would fit into our family. Only Mum and Roger wouldn't know it.

A nurse I've met quit a few times when I've come with Mum for her check-ups heads over to us. "Congratulations; you have a new sister," she says with a big smile.

Personally she reminds me of one of those arcade crane machines; '_Congratulations, you've won a new toy!_', the smile a little too robotic, the words a stock phrase. But, I remind myself, I haven't won a stuffed toy; I've got a new little sister. A sister. Ha! I'm not the only girl anymore! A little sister…

"Can we see her?" Conor asks.

The woman smiles again, and nods before leading us down the corridor and into one of the birthing rooms.

Inside, I see Roger sitting on a seat next to the bed where Mum's lying, rocking a blanket. I stare, momentarily caught between conflicting emotions. How would Dad feel if he saw this? Then I remember Gorran, Dad's son; my half-brother. But maybe he would still have minded; maybe the new baby would have made Dad regret leaving us? No. I know that he already regretted it. So maybe he would have been happy that Mum's moved on.

_Like he did, _a voice at the back of my head sneers. And maybe that voice is right. But I have to move on too; there are far too many 'maybes' and 'what ifs' now that he's dead. I saw him die; I was there, and I know that in the end he was content, at peace. So I think- no, I _know_ that he would have been pleased to see Mum so happy.

"Sapphy?"

I'm jolted out of my thoughts by a voice; Mum's voice.

"Sapphy, don't you want to see your new sister?" she asks.

I walk over to the bed and stand next to Conor, peering down at the infant sleeping in Mum's arms. She's so tiny. Was I ever that small?

"Do you have any ideas for names yet?" she asks us.

"Melwyn Zennor," says Conor, smiling all over his face.

"Melwyn Zennor Slade…" Mum echoes, adding on her last name.

Slade is Roger's last name, so when Mum married him she became Jennie Slade. Of course Conor agreed to change his last name, after lots of pestering from Mum, but I didn't change mine. I'd feel like I was betraying Dad, or making it seem like I was forgetting him. I know that he betrayed us, but I'm not like him; I don't betray _my_ family.

~x~

Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, months turn into years, and suddenly Melwyn is four years old and I'm finishing my last day of school _ever_. I know what I'm going to do. I'm leaving Air to live in Ingo, but I can only tell Conor, not Mum, not Roger and not any of my friends.

I've been writing goodbye notes all week; it's been hell trying to keep them hidden and Melwyn isn't helping.

I walk home from school as my bike broke last week and there's no point in replacing it. I unlock the door and walk inside. It's not the same since Sadie died a two months ago; she had been having problems with her kidney's for a few years, and death took her one night while she slept on my bed. I haven't been able to change my duvet in two months because it will feel like getting rid of her; but that won't matter soon. Soon I will be gone; in fact it was Sadie's passing which made me really want to go to Ingo, after school had ended. It was always Sadie keeping me from leaving, going to Ingo for good. Now nothing can stop me.

I climb the ladder to Conor's attic room for the last time. He got back from Uni two days ago.

"Con?"

"Yeah?"

I take a deep breath, hoping that he'll understand. "I'm going to Ingo," I whisper.

Conor seems to know I'm not just going for a visit. "You're not coming back, are you?" he says.

I shake my head in response, not trusting my voice. The next thing I know Conor's hugging me

"Bye Con," I say simply, as I don't know what else to say.

"Bye Saph," he replies, his voice shaking ever so slightly.

I hand him a note and climb down the ladder.

When I'm downstairs I leave three other notes on the kitchen table; one to Mum, one to Roger and one to Melwyn. Melwyn's also says on the envelope that it is not to be opened until her eleventh birthday.

An hour later, once I've delivered letters to Rainbow, Katie and Granny Carne, I'm in the cove, diving.

Diving into Ingo.

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><p><strong>~~Hope it was okay~~<strong>


	2. The letters

**~~Hiya I wasn't going to update so soon but I started writing this chapter and couldn't stop.**

**Thanks for the reviews.**

**Thanks Sapphire Oceans for betaing~~**

**Disclaimer in chapter one.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<br>**_The Letters_

"Conor? Sapphire? Roger? Melwyn?" Jennie calls as she walks through the front door. There's a moment before she hears the pattering of feet as her youngest child charges through the house to meet her.

"Mummy!" Melwyn cries, running over to her.

"Hello Honey," she says, swinging her up into her arms. "Are the others in?"

"Connie," Melwyn replies, using the much hated nickname that she gave Conor when she first started talking.

"Okay Honey. I know; why don't we make you a snack?"

Melwyn nods eagerly, and Jennie sets her back down on the floor before starting to make her way over to the cupboard. Before she reaches it, however, she notices a small pile of envelopes on the table. Frowning, she picks one of the letters up, the one that has her name on it, and sits down to open it.

_Dear Mum,_

_I don't know what to say. I've been writing and rewriting this letter all week, and out of all of them it's been one of the hardest to write._

_I'm leaving, and I can't return; I'm safe and alive but I will miss you._

_I'm so sorry that I'm leaving you, but sometimes these things happen._

_Goodbye Mum,_

_Love from Sapphy._

Jennie stares at it for a moment, panicked thoughts racing through her mind. _No. No. No, no, no, no! Not Sapphy!Not my little Sapphy; she can't be gone! No, I must have read it wrong, or maybe it's a joke set up by…by…by…who? Who'd do something like this?_

"CONOR!" she yells. "_CONOR_!"

For the second time that day she hears running feet, and a moment afterwards, Conor walks into the kitchen.

"Who did this? Did…did someone break in and write this?"

"No Mum. Saph wrote it."

"Then was she being threatened? She can't have chosen to leave us!"

"Mum, listen. She had to leave. I want her to still live here and get a job, or go to Uni, or join the band, or something like that, but trust me Mum…she'll be happy where she's gone. You have to trust me."

Jennie nods slowly; her eldest daughter has a mind of her own, and if she chose to leave then it was her choice, not anyone else's.

"I just wish she had stayed for a bit longer…"

"Me too."

**~Seven Years Later~**

"_Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Melwyn! Happy birthday to you!_"

"Happy Birthday Smelly!" says Dad, handing me a gift wrapped in blue paper.

I roll my eyes at the stupid nickname; he got it from my baby name, Melly.

"Thanks Dad," I say as I carefully open the paper. It's a mermaid necklace. I grin. I've always been liked mermaids, but I could never get my brother Conor to read me one mermaid story when I was little. He always said that they weren't realistic, and that if mermaids were real then they wouldn't have fish tails and they wouldn't be called mermaids; there would be boys as well, and that no one called girls 'maids' anymore either. I have to admit that he had a point, but come on; who says that to a five year old? "It's lovely Dad!"

Conor hands me a parcel wrapped in terracotta coloured wrapping paper. I just as carefully unwrap this one. It's a bright blue swimming costume.

"I thought you old one was well getting a bit old," says Conor.

"Thanks Connie!"

"Sure thing Melly."

He knows I don't like being called Melly anymore; that's why he calls me it whenever I call him Connie.

"Anyway, it was Rain's idea." Rainbow is my sister-in-law; she has been for four years.

"Thanks Rainbow!"

"Mel, your main birthday present is outside," says Mum.

I walk towards the door, but Dad's hands cover my eyes.

"It needs to be a surprise," he says. Someone opens the door and Dad guides me out. "On the count of three, one, two, threeee…." Dad stops covering my eyes and I see my main birthday present. A new bike! It's green with blue handles.

"It's wonderful!"

"We thought you'd like it, Honey," Mum says, smiling.

My nickname 'Honey' comes from my name-meaning. Melwyn means 'as fair as honey'. I was named by my sister Sapphire, who left us when I was only four. None of us know where she went. I don't really remember her, but Mum insists that I have lots of photos of her in my room; the room which used to be Sapphire's. And there are lots of photos of her all around the house.

"I do!" I say, snapping out of my thoughts.

~x~

There's nothing like good old birthday telly; or there would be if there was such a thing as good telly on a Sunday.

"Mel?"

"Un huh?"

"You have one more gift…well one more letter."

_I wonder who it's from?_

"Who's it from?"

"It's from ..."Mum pauses from a few moments before continuing, "Sapphire." I snap round to face her, forgetting all about the cheesy sitcom I was sort of watching.

"Sapphire? As in my sister?" I ask, hardly daring to breathe.

Mum nods. "When she left, she left notes for all of us, but on yours it said not to give it to you until your eleventh birthday. So we waited, keeping it a secret from you, so you wouldn't be wondering what was in it for years."

I just sit there staring, too stunned to speak. "C-can I have it?" I ask after a while.

Mum leaves without saying anything and comes back with a letter, which she hands to me. After staring at it for at least five minutes I slowly open it.

_Dear Melwyn,_

_You probably don't remember me but I'm your big sister. Well, half-sister. But I think of you as a full sister. I'm sad that I have to leave you when you're so young, and that I don't get to see you grow up. Yes I could stay, or, by the time you read this, I could have stayed; but the thing you need to remember is that sometimes new starts can be good things. Your letter has been the hardest to write, because you're my little four year old sister, but do remember one thing; believe in what you want to believe in, and do what you want to do, because no one should be able to tell you what to do. And do be good for Mum, even after reading what I wrote. Listen to her. She's had a hard enough time already. And be good for Roger and Conor._

_Also, Conor and Rainbow got married didn't they? If they didn't, DO NOT tell them I wrote that, and if they did, tell them I saw it coming years ago. Stay safe and be strong._

_Love from Sapphire (Sapphy)_

I read the letter over and over again.

Finally, after reading it more than ten times, I put it down. I won't cry. No. I won't. She left me. Even though she says that she wished she could have seen me grow up, she still left me of her own free will.

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><p><strong>~~Hope it was as good as the last chapter or better?~~<strong>


	3. Find and Seek

**~~Hiya this is a very important chapter in the story. Cyber cookies if you guess who Gorran is.**

**Thanks to SapphireOceans for betaing.**

**Disclaimer in chapter one~~**

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><p><strong>3<br>****_Find and Seek_**

I lie on my bed, staring up at the ceiling of my room with the letter clutched tightly between my fingers. The letter. Her letter. My letter. I can't stop thinking about it. It's the day after my birthday and I've spent the whole night tossing and turning, unable to stop thinking about it. I must have got about an hour's sleep; two at the most. I'm glad that my birthday's in the summer because at least I have a week before I have to go back to school. I don't think I could cope if I had to go back right away.

I hear creaking from above me, and look up to see Rainbow climbing down from Conor's old attic room. They stayed the night, just like they always do on my birthday.

"Hey Mel!"

"Hi," I reply dully.

Rainbow doesn't answer immediately; first she comes over and sits on my bed. "You got the letter then?" she says softly, watching me with concern as I give a silently nod. "Aren't you happy that you got it?"

I want to scream at her that I don't know! How could I know?! Yeah, she's my sister, but maybe I'd have been happier if things hadn't been stirred up again. Maybe I do wish she'd been here when I was crowning up, but she wasn't! I know that Mum didn't want to keep that letter hidden from me for years. And why my eleventh birthday, anyway? Why eleven? Mum says that things always make more sense when you're older, so why not sixteen? Or twenty? Maybe Conor will know? I could just ask Rainbow as she's here, and not asleep upstairs like my brother.

"Rainbow, why eleven?"

I hate the way I sound asking it, like a five year old going "but whhhhhhy?". But after all, I have only _just _finished _Year _Five…

"Sapphy's dad passed away when she was ten, and it was the year after that that your mum met your dad. So I guess that that year in her life was kind of…a moving on year."

A moving on year? Did she want me to move on from _her_? But she's my sister! My big sister…_The big sister that left you, says that stupid little voice at the back of my head._

I know she left me, but she still has the same blood as me…well. Half the same blood as me, anyway. She's just as much a sister to me as Conor is a brother. That's when I make my decision. I will find her. I will.

"I'm going to find her," I say outloud, my voice determined/

"Mel," Rainbow's voice is kind, "we've all been searching for years. We tried, we really did."

"You just gave up!" I say, my voice rising angrily.

"No! Of course we still look for her, but Mel…she doesn't want to be found. That makes it a lot harder."

"I'm still going to find her, even if you won't help me," I say stubbornly. " Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and get ready."

~x~

_Water? _Check.

_Sandwich? _Check.

_Torch? _Check.

_Backpack? _Check.

_Bike? _Outside.

_Letter? _Check.

I don't think I'll need anything else. I pack everything into the rucksack and climb onto my biek, cycling down the track and into the centre of the parish. I head off down past a row of fisherman's cottages, but after two streets I have no idea where to go.

_Okay. So. It's been seven years. No one's found her, and she doesn't want to be found. _But then it occurs to me. _Granny Carne might know though_. I turn my bike in the direction of the downs instead. I can at least try.

~x~

I knock tentatively on the door of her house, feeling ever so slightly nervous. It is a few minutes before it opens.

"Hello, Melwyn."

"Hi Granny Carne. Um…I need to ask you something."

"Why don't you come in?"

She opens the door wide, and I walk into her house. I've never been in here before, I've had no need, but I have met Granny Carne many a time. Everyone knows her. She gestures for me to sit down, and I take a seat at the old oak table in the centre of the room.

"It's about Sapphire," I say after a moment.

"You half-sister. You're looking for her." It's a statement, not a question.

"Urm…yeah, I am. I thought maybe you'd know where she is?"

"Your mother came here asking me the same question around seven years ago. But if Sapphire wanted to be found, then we would have found her."

"You're avoiding the question!"

"Melwyn…" She sighs. "I do indeed know where your sister is."

"Where is she?" I can't stop the questions bubbling up out of my mouth. "Why didn't you tell Mum? Why didn't you tell _us_? Tell me where she is!"

"Melwyn, Sapphire isn't…on _this_ earth any longer."

What does she mean?! Is she dead? No, she said that she was fine. Alive, not dead. Not dead…

"She….she can't be..."

"No Melwyn. Sapphire is alive, but not…here. However, I believe that your brother Conor knows just as much as I do about the matter, if not more."

No. No. She must be lying. Conor would tell us if he knew where Sapphire was, I know he would…wouldn't he? I feel sick and betrayed but I'm not sure who by. Sapphire? Granny Carne? Or Conor?

"I've got to go Granny Carne," I say, standing up and knocking my chair flying. "Bye!" I race outside get on my bike, cycling home as fast as I can. I've got to know. I've got to know if Conor's been lying for all these years.

~x~

"Conor!" I yell as soon as I get inside. "Conor!" I run upstairs and see him climbing down the ladder, looking vaguely alarmed.

"What is it, Mel?"

"We need to talk. **_Now_**!"

"Uh….okay."

"In private," I add, looking around furtively.

"Mum and Roger are at the shops, and Rain's out."

"Good. Now tell me the truth," I say, my hands shaking slightly with anger. "Is it true that you've known _all along_ where _our_ sister has been?"

He stiffens slightly. "Who told you that?"

"So you do know!" I yell, rage flooding through me. "You lied to me, and Mum and Dad and Rainbow; you lied to _everyone_! You always said that you didn't know where she went when I asked you, but you did!"

"Mel, I'm sorry! But she didn't want anyone to know. Besides," he adds with a wry smile, "you wouldn't have believed me."

"Try me."

~x~

"Why did you tell her that I know where Saph is?" Conor asks Granny Carne.

The old woman sighs softly. "Because she has Mer blood."

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><p><strong>~~I felt like leaving it on a bit of a cliff hanger :D Also the last bit isn't from Melwyn's point of view~~<strong>


	4. Brother or Broders?

**~~Hello all. I know I was updating every day and now it's been over a week. I got ill and I know that's really not very good as sitting around all day is a perfect time to write but I just can't find write in with a painful throat but anyway I'm sure there are better things you could be doing then reading my not so good reason for this chapter to be taking so long.**

**Thanks for the reviews : D.**

**Thanks SapphireOceans for betaing.**

**Disclaimer in chapter one~~**

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><p><strong>Chapter Four<br>**_Brother or Broders?_

I climb down to the cove and look out to sea. Mum said that Sapphire used to love the cove…maybe if I call to her she'll hear me?

"Sapphire? Sapphire?" I call quietly. There's no way I'm speaking any louder; I feel silly enough as it is.

"Why are you calling my sister?"

I jump. Where did that come from? Who is that? I look down. There's a boy swimming in the water! He's a bit older than me, two years at most.

"Sapphire is my sister," I reply.

"No; Sapphire is _my _sister."

"Ever thought that we might both have sisters called Sapphire?"

"Where I come from people don't reuse names," he says matter-of-factly.

_Oh God, another tourist._ They don't normally find the cove, or find a way into the cove, but it's happened on rare occasions, and this must be one of those times.

"Look tourist, whoever you are, I live here. In fact, I grew up here and Sapphire is my sister whether you like it or not."

"Firstly I am _not_ a tourist. Secondly, I grew up here too and, thirdly, Sapphire is _my _sister."

If this kid thinks he grew up here, then he probably has some memory issues.

"Look if, you had grown up here then I would have met you," I snap. "And you should really stop saying I don't have a sister called Sapphire, because I do and I'd like you to remember that."

"If you want to believe that, then it's fine by me," he says smugly.

"Look kid, you can't just go around telling people who their family are," I say as calmly as I can when faced with the smirk on his face.

"Well, some of us at least have better things to do then stay here all day," he drawls.

"Uh huh; that's why you're here, right?" I retort.

"I _do _have somewhere better to be, before I leave I need to know your name."

I stare at him. This kid is beginning to freak me out. "Too bad. Weirdoes don't get to know my name." I say harshly, glowering at him.

"Well my name is Gorran," he says, giving me a smile. "It would really help if I knew your name."

Okay, this kid 'Gorran' needs help. First he's nasty, then he's nosy and now he's nosy _and_ pleading.

"No way," I snap, getting up to leave.

"Please! I'm doing a report for…for school, and it's failing so far. _Please_."

"Agh fine!" I throw up my hands in defeat. "My name's Melwyn, Melwyn Zennor, but there's no _way_ you're getting my surname."

He looks more confused than anything. Does he not know what a surname is? Or does he just not understand why I have a uncommon name? Well, I've got some news for him; Gorran isn't the most popular name either.

"Anyway see ya, really wouldn't wanna to be ya," I say, turning to head back towards the cliffs.

"WAIT!"

"What is it?" I say with a reluctant sigh, turning back to him.

"Just…thanks. Um…it will really help. And maybe not just help me." His last words are no more than a whisper. Before I can ask what on earth he meant by that, he dives under the water. I wait for a moment, but he doesn't re-emerge. Strange. Maybe he's one of those people who can hold their breath for hours?

~x~

I climb out of the cove and wander along the path. Where can I go? I can't go home; Conor might be there. But where else?

My friend Hannah's? Nope she's away on holiday. Think, think, think…

_River._

River is my brother-in-law. He's nineteen, and works at the same pub that Mum used to work at before I was born. I head there now, creeping past the house and along the track to the _Tinner's Arms_. The sun is pretty high in the sky, which is strange. I thought that it was much earlier than this. It was around seven when I left the house and I didn't spend much time at Granny Carne, nor back at the house when I went back to speak with Conor. I can't have been at the cove long either. Maybe in all that could have taken around four hours? Or maybe not.

"River?" I call as I poke my head gingerly around the pub door.

"Mel, what are you doing here?" He grins, walking over to me.

"I need to talk to someone," I say, chewing my lip.

River steps back to allow me to come in, before starting to head towards a table. "What about?" he asks me as be begins to collect up empty plates.

"Sapphire," I say simply. "I want to know what you know about my sister."

"Urm…well. I first met Sapphire when I was six. She's six years older than me. She left when I was twelve, the same age she was when I first met her. Um…"

I sigh. This isn't going to be easy. "River, what do you really know about Sapphire? And don't say that you were only twelve and that you were too young to actually know her, because I'm eleven and I actually know you."

"Mel, your brother is married to my sister; of course you actually know me."

"You had known her for **_six years_**! Don't tell me that you didn't know her!" I yell.

"Mel, calm down!"

"NO! I will _not_ calm down!" I shout.

"_Melwyn Zennor Slade_! Maybe if you stop yelling and actually listened, then you would find out some answers!" River says, looking a little cross himself.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Mum always tells me to do that when I'm angry. "What do you know about my sister?"

"Don't laugh, but when we all split up to search for her, I was the one looking down at the cove with my sister. But Rainbow ran back to get her jumper, 'cos it was getting cold and she'd forgotten it. And…well. I know this will sound stupid, but…but I thought that I saw her in the water. I called out to her, but she disappeared. I thought that she must be in trouble, thought that she might be drowning or something, so I swam out, but…no one was there. I kept coming back to the cove every day for months; I tried telling Rainbow my story, but she just told me not to tell it to anyone else. After a few months, I started to believe I'd just made it up. I really don't know why I'm telling you this, I really don't, but…well. It feels important and…" here he grins, "It stopped you from yelling at me."

I think his story over for a few minutes before I finally speak. "There was a boy at the cove today. He kept telling me Sapphire was his sister, not mine, and then after really annoying me he finally dived underwater and he didn't come up again."

River stares at me for a moment. "Mel, what if…what if Sapphire _was_ his sister? You said he kept saying that she was…do you know his name? You could ask Conor if he knows him, think; if he does, it might mean that Sapphire's been living with him. Maybe she's alive!"

I pull a face. Why would she choose to live with him if he was her brother anyway? He's really annoying. And though Conor might be annoying to me, he's _my_ brother. He's meant to be. Besides, he and Sapphire got on really well, didn't they? Oh! It's all too complicated. But still, I've got to ask Conor about Gorran…I jump up.

"I've got to go River; I said I'd be back in time for lunch. You know how Mum worries. I'll tell you what Conor says about Gorran, the boy in the cove. Bye!"

"Bye Mel!"

~x~

As soon as I get in, I rush to Conor's attic room.

"Conor? Conoorrrrr?"

"He's out," a voice calls up to me, and my sister-in-law's head appears through the trapdoor hole as she climbs up at ladder.

"Oh, hi Rainbow! Do you know when he'll be back?"

"He said that he was going to Granny Carne's for something."

Oh no! He's going to speak to Granny Carne about what I told him; or rather about what I asked him. Just then, I hear the door open and close, and then feet coming up the stairs and climbing the ladder.

"Conor!" I cry. "I really need to speak to you! In private! _Now_!"

"What is it Mel?"

I stare at him. He must be dumber than I thought if he can't work out what I want to talk to him about; but then, to be fair, I don't want to talk about his sister. I want to talk about his brother.

"I'll be in the living room," Rainbow says, glancing between us before climbing down the ladder.

As soon as I hear the first step creak I ask him. "Does the name Gorran mean anything to you?"

Conor's shocked face is priceless.

"So I'm guessing that he is indeed Sapphire's brother, which of course makes him your brother too. Although I'm not too sure if he's my brother as well."

Conor doesn't reply for what seems like an age. "No," he finally says. "Gorran isn't Sapphire's brother. He's her _broder_."

_Broder…broder…broder…_

I've never heard that word before, but somehow I can remember it, like a long lost memory from a time before I was born.

"What does it mean?" I can't say it; it's like if I say it I'd be losing something but gaining something else, something brilliant. But I'm not ready to lose the first thing yet, whatever it is.

"It's sort of another word for brother, I guess."

He doesn't seem very sure about that; anyway, if it's the same thing then why did he say Gorran wasn't her brother? None of this makes any sense; why can't he just tell me? _Why? Why? Why?_

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><p><strong>~~What do you think? Also just warning you now as I can't seem to ever pace things this may turn out to be a small story but better small then the same thing written over and over a million time right? : )~~<strong>


	5. Sisters

**~~It's been sooooooo long. Sorry with bugs, exams and a really good book series I started reading, I kind of lost track of time, you can also thank writers block that the late update.**

**But I'm back in the land of the writing(I really must stop making the worst jokes ever). And I'm hoping not to let too much time go before I update again.**

**Also on my other story The Bookshop after some lovely reviews I've decided to continue it but as I started this story first I'm going to be spending my main writing time updating this but I do hope to update it soon.**

**Oh yeah before I forget Sapphire POV is also in first person.**

**Ingo fan 1:Thanks for pointing that out about Conor he probably wouldn't have been calm but I didn't want Sapphire to leave never really saying goodbye to Conor it would have been too sad. I was thinking the same thing about Sadie I love Sadie but Sapphire wouldn't have left with Sadie there. And with Faro read and see.**

**Before my AN turns out to be longer then this chapter.**

**Disclaimer in chapter one.~~**

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><p><strong>Chapter Five<br>**_Sisters_

Conor and Rainbow left yesterday evening. Rainbow's in a band and Conor helps out backstage, so they can never stay for too long. This is mainly because of rehearsals and sound checks and gigs, and some other stuff about microphones that Conor was trying to explain to me last Christmas that didn't really make much sense. Probably because he doesn't know how to explain things.

I normally get upset when they leave, because Conor's my brother and Rainbow is like a sister to me. I guess she _is _really with the whole sister-in-law thingy. This year when they left I expected to be sad, but instead I just felt betrayed. I mean, I do miss Rainbow, and of course _she_ didn't betray me. Conor was the one who deceived me, me and Mum. But I can't think of Mum now; there's not enough room in my head what with Gorran's visit, discovering Conor's betrayal, and the fact that my own sister destroyed our family. No. _My_ family. She left; she doesn't get to be in my family tree anymore. In fact, if I was asked who my sister was, I'd say Rainbow, because she's helped and been there for me like Sapphire should have been if she had stayed.

**_~Somewhere Deep In The Sea~_**

I wake up, my heart pounding.

I've just had another nightmare about Conor sending me to a lab, a lab where they do tests on me to see just how human I am.

I've been having the nightmares ever since I decided to become full Mer three years ago, and it doesn't look like they're going to stop anytime soon. It's not like I've even seen Conor in seven years, not since I was seventeen and I chose to live in Ingo. I haven't seen my mum, or my step-dad Roger, or my little baby sister Melwyn. I made my choice, I know that, but even so it still hurts to think I left them, even if they knew I would be fine from my letters.

Melly's probably opened hers now. She probably knows I'm still out here and that I chose to leave. She probably hates me for it. Probably. Or she might have grown up to be _really_ forgiving, which I seriously doubt. I must have caused Mum so much pain, pain that Melwyn wouldn't have understood. All she'd have known was that her big sister went to school one day and then never came home to play 'grown-ups' with her. 'Grown-ups' was her favourite game, and she always got me to play it with her in the evenings. I wonder; did she ever get to play it again? Did anyone play our game with her? Maybe I shouldn't have left so soon. Maybe I should have waited for her to grow up a bit more…but there's no use fretting over it now. I can't change the past. I need to put these memories back in the place I always put them when they get too stressful, at the back of my mind, in that little place where memories can go when you don't need them, but can easily come out again if you ever want them. That's where my memories of Dad are.

I don't normally dwell on the past so much; Faro is normally here to help me if the memories are too strong. But Faro is away at the moment, visiting his sister in the North. I decided not to go, because I didn't feel like swimming all the way to the North to see someone that I don't really like. I guess that she is sort of my sister-in-law now, but we don't act sisterly at all. I did get on with her once, but that was a long time ago, before she left to go to the North. After that I simply couldn't forgive her. She was the only familt that Faro had, and then she took that away from him.

"Sapphire? _Sapphire?_"

I raise my head and smile at my little half-brother. "Hey Gorran; what's the emergency?"

"Do you know any one by the name of Melwyn Zennor?"

I jerk into a sitting position and seize his shoulders. "You've talked to Melly? When? How? Tell me!" I say desperately, shaking him slightly. "Tell me _now_!"

"Okay, okay keep your hair on! She was at the cove. You know the one I always find you lurking a tiny way away from, the one that you won't go in?"

My baby sister has Mer blood? But how?

The memories slowly rise to the surface.

_Then one day I must have thought I could breathe underwater like a fish…I kept saying the sea wanted me…There was a pain like a fire in my chest and it was just getting better when they pulled me out._

Dad wasn't the only person who I got my Mer genes from. Mum must be part Mer too, or else Melly wouldn't have been able to talk to Gorran.

"I've got to go. I'll see you later." I say, ducking out of the cave and swimming away before Gorran can reply. I have to get to the cove and I have to see Melly! Who knows how Conor's been dealing with this? Does he even know? So much for not keeping in contact with my family! When I reach the cove, Gorran isn't far behind me.

"If I'm here, at least she'll recognise one of us," he pipes up.

He doesn't know how much that hurts. Melly isn't related to him, but she'll know who he is. She won't know me. I don't think I've ever regretted moving to Ingo more.

We wait here for hours, hiding behind the rocks until we hear something that sounds a lot like trainers on shingle.

~x~

"Mum, I'm going out!" I call as I close the door behind me. I need to be somewhere alone to put my thoughts in order, so I head towards the cove. I climb down the rocky cliff face the way Conor that showed me when I was six. Easy times.

"Melly? Melwyn?"

I look around, frowning as I hear a voice call my name. I walk out onto the sand and look around trying to spot the voice's owner. It was a female voice that I don't really recognise, but the woman, whoever she is, called me by my baby name. Was it someone who knew me when I was little?

A head pops up in the water; a female head with long trailing hair. She seems strangely familiar, but where could I know her from? A distant memory surfaces, and I remember that voice talking to me as we played a game.

"_You be the mummy and I'll be the baby."_

"_Okay, but let me get your pram first!"_

It dawns on me then. This woman is my sister. The sister who left, the sister who left her- no- _my_ family without even saying goodbye.

I stare at her, waiting for her to speak. Still waiting for her. Forever waiting. Because I always wanted her to come back; I always wanted to see my big sister again. But now she's here, I discover that I don't want her back after all. She left me. She left us all, and now she just comes back to have a nice swim in the cove. Well I've got news for her; I don't want her here, not now, not after when she did.

"Melwyn?"

"Yes."

"I'm Sapphire, your sister."

"No. You're not," I say, my voice cold. "Not since you left."

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><p><strong>~~You can just feel the sisterly love can't you? I didn't come up with the words from Sapphy's flashback in case you haven't read the crossing in a while. I've started makings plans for the next chapter so hopefully not too long~~<strong>


	6. Forever gone?

**Okay firstly I'm going to try and update every week or second week but I'm not promising anything, secondly thanks soooooooooo much for the reviews, they really help me update faster *looks at time between chapter four and five* Well if life isn't too busy. But they do help. Also I'm sorry if I don't reply to reviews I mean to but I'm kind of forgetful, I'll let you into a secret I might have kinda forgot about this story for a about a week, Hay I was busy!**

**Thanks SapphireOceans for Betaing.**

**Disclaimer is somewhere in a chapter in this story but which?**

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><p><strong>Chapter Six<br>**_Forever Gone?_

It's only then that I spot it.

She's got some stupid fancy dress costume on; why else would she have a seal's tail?

She looks hurt, like _I'm_ the one who left _her_ before she was even in Year One. She is _not_ my sister. Rainbow is; she's always been there. Well, not _always_, but…but…oh I don't know!  
>I do know that this isn't fair! The worst thing that most girls my age have to worry about is whether they'll fit into their new school; before that it was whether they'd be punished for hitting their younger sibling; or whether they'd get more pudding if they were extra good. But I've had to worry about my sister since I was four and that changed me. I've never trusted anyone fully, except for people like Mum, Dad, Rainbow and River. And Hannah, I kind of trust Hannah. Sort of.<br>I used to trust Conor, but I don't know what to think of him anymore. I don't know what to think of anything at all.

"Melwyn, please just listen. I'm sorry to have left you at such a-"

"No!" I interrupt. "You're not sorry at all! If you were sorry, you wouldn't have left and then come back, seven years later, just to have a swim in the cove in a costume!"

"I…I…"

"Oh, don't pretend that you're speechless; you missed everything that was important! You missed my first day of school; you weren't there when I was in hospital, or when I was bullied! You weren't even at Conor's wedding! And you know what? When I was walking down the aisle as one of Rainbow's bridesmaids, I felt like I was just a replacement; that I was there because you weren't. But you know what? I don't feel like that anymore because I'm _not you_; I would never just leave."

Sapphire doesn't say anything for a while, but when she does she sinks even lower in my opinion. "So they got married then?"

Is that all she cares about? If she was right? Well, I know that _I've_ been wrong all these years. Sapphire isn't anything special; in fact she's just a coward, too afraid to even face her family.

_She faced you..._the stupid little voice in the back of my head pipes up, but I ignore it. If she wanted to know me, then she should have never gone or she should have come back sooner, because the little girl who always wanted to play 'Grown-Up's' has really grown up now.  
>Melly is gone forever.<p>

~x~

She left. She just turned and climbed out of the cove.

"Well. That went well," says Gorran.

I can't reply; my throat is too tight. My sister hates me; but who can blame her? Maybe I could go back to having legs so that I could visit them?  
>No. I'd probably give Mum a heart-attack. If I'd have gone back sooner, then maybe it would be alright. But what about Faro? Is this what Dad felt? Trapped between love and family? I went through this when I was a teenager, and I picked Ingo.<br>_Well, Sapphire, whoever said life was simple?_  
>When Dad left I was a carefree little kid who thought the worst thing in life was school. But Melly has had to go through all that from the age of <em>four<em>. I used to be angry at Dad for leaving, but that was before. Before I followed in his footsteps and wrecked our family for a second time.  
>Just as Mum was happy again.<br>Just as they all were happy.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry for shortness but I felt it was a good place to end the chapter. I'm also sorry if it's a bit gloomy or however you would put it but hay if you had a sister who'd just left then come back to 'have a swim in the cove' then you'd probably be mad too. I'm sorry again if it was a bit disappointing. But I'm not sorry if you think I needed to put those things I was sorry about on here Wahahahaha. And yes that wasn't meant to make sense.<strong>

**Also if you have some free time a review might help the next chapter be longer(Hint, hint)**


	7. Memories

**Look it's 2013 and the world didn't go boom(or whatever was 'meant' to happen) last year, oh and it's June and I haven't updated in over a year. I won't go on with my sorry excuses.**

**I've been thinking of how to end this and come up with three ideas.**

**1: Sad ending.**

**2: Ingo ending.**

**3: Earth ending.**

**How many more chapters there'll be will depend on the chosen one.**

**There should be a poll on my page.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Seven<br>**__Memories_

_I walk up the cliff. All that's on my mind is that I must get away from her. So I don't notice I'm going up the wrong way, up the dangerous way. And by the time I do it's too late, I slip and fall down towards the incoming tide..._

It keeps replaying itself over and over and I can't wake up. I'm stuck watching my rage-fuelled mistake over and over, without a break, without relief; just climbing and falling again and again. I'm not sure how long it's been like this and I'm not sure when it will stop. All that I can hope is that it will.

_Beep._

_Beep._

Finally, the looping image starts to fade, but others come to take its place.

"_Melly, stay here with Mummy while Conor and I go looking for Sapphy," my dad says. When I look up at him, I realise that I'm seeing him through the eyes of my four year old self._

"_Okay Daddy," I reply, and he smiles gently at me._

"_That's my good girl," he says._

The memory dwindles and is replaced by another…

_Beep._

_Beep._

"_Sapphy you smell like salt! " the three year old me declares._

"_I've been swimming," Sapphire replies, smiling._

"_Did you meet a mermaid?"_

"_Yep! But I'll let you in on a secret; they don't like to be called mermaids."_

"_But everyone calls them mermaids," I say in my best matter of fact voice._

"_They prefer to be called Mer," Sapphire answers._

_Beep._

_Beep._

_I'm crying in this one. It's my first day of 'big girl' school and Sapphy isn't here to walk with me there, or hug me when I finally get out. She hasn't been there for a year now._

And then that image is replaced by another that I don't remember.

_I can see four children; two of them with wet suits down to the waist and two of them in normal clothes . All of them are underwater._

_And there's a man next to them, and more women and men behind him, all with wet suits down to the waist._

_And then the boys speaks. "Isn't our nature as Mer to hold onto our memories and pass them on to our children's children?"_

_Beep._

_Beep._

The image fades out, but only for a few seconds.

"_Any children I may have one day are no part of your bargains, or of your battles."_

"_Fantastic, Elvira," the girl in normal clothes says to the girl in the wetsuit._

_Beep._

_Beep._

The picture dissolves into blackness once more, for much longer this time, but inevitably it comes back.

"_No Con, he'll kill you!"_

"_He's going to kill us anyway."_

_Beep._

_Beep._

It diminishes again, and this time it doesn't come back. Now everything is obscure, silent shadows, except for the invasion of the soft, regular beeping. And then the darkness itself starts to disintegrate as it is replaced by pure, white light.


	8. A silent wish sails the seven seas

Chapter Eight  
>[Insert chapter title here]<p>

When I find the strength to open my eyes, everything is fuzzy. Sounds are too loud and abrasive, the lights are too bright, blinding me.

"Melly!" The voice, although distorted, is still recognisable as Conor's, and the hazy outline of the shape looming over me looks like him.

"Conor?" I manage to choke, my voice harsh and painful in my throat.

"Right here," he replies, and I feel him squeeze my hand.

"I saw her Con," I gasp. "She's happy."

He doesn't reply for a long moment, and when he does, his voice is so quiet that I nearly miss it altogether. Strange. Conor never mumbles. "I know she is."

His voice is growing distant, his outline blurring until I can no longer distinguish his form from the darkening shadows of the room. A strange, foggy sensation is spreading through me; I don't know what's happening; it feels strange, like the world is continuing to spin but I've stopped moving, like everything's leaving me behind. "Conor what's happening?" I ask, my eyes starting to close.

"Come on Melly, stay with me now," he says, gripping my hand more tightly. I am so incredibly tired, but he sounds so scared, terrified even, that I try to open my eyes, just for him, but the lids are too heavy. I hear him speak again, but can't distinguish his exact words, something about River and motorcycles.

"Sorreh Con…" I whisper, my voice slurring, which scares me even more. "S-so tiiired…"

I hear Conor's voice once more as it echoes in my sluggish ears, calling me, trying to communicate with me, but fatigue is victorious and his voice fades until there is nothing left, nothing left but the darkness.

~x~

The funeral is held a couple of weeks later at Zennor Church. In the end, I was the one who made most of the preparations. Mum was too devastated to think straight, really. At least with Sapphire she had the reassurance that she was okay, alive and free. Melwyn's demise was final.

I don't know what happens to those of us with mixed blood when we die. Not quite human, not quite Mer. I don't know, but I should. I'm the oldest and she was so young. It should have been me. I should have gone first.

I choose for her to be cremated, in the end. Even though the thought of her being burnt horrified me, the thought of her being entombed under the earth, Melwyn with her free spirit and Mer blood...it was just wrong.

When the service is complete and her body has turned to ash, Mum, Roger, Rainbow, River and I go to the cliffs just above the cove, just above where...where it happened. The place haunts me, but at the same time, I know she'd want to be by the sea. It was where she always wanted to be. Except maybe that one last time, the time she saw Saph, the time she was certain she'd been betrayed. In a way she was, but that doesn't really matter anymore. How do you betray a dead girl?

~x~

How could I have been so stupid? Stupid enough to fool myself into thinking that everything would be okay, that she might forgive me. That she might stay instead of running away and-  
>If it wasn't for me she'd still be alive. It's my fault that Mum's lost both of her daughters, that Conor's lost his sisters, that Roger's lost his only child.<br>I wish I had thought it through, though about it before I destroyed Mum and Roger's lives; before my mistakes ended Melly's.

I made my choice. A foolish and childish choice. And now I have to live with it.

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><p>Okay this really is not how I expected this to end, I never planned for kill her off even when I had her fall of the cliff in my mind she was going to recover.<br>Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me even with my very long time gap and the gap between this one and the last is longer then I wanted it to be but it is done now : ) and special thanks to SapphireOceans for betaing this story : D  
>I really like Melwyn and I've been thinking of writing some more stories about her growing up, would anyone like to read that?<br>Okay I'm gonna go now.  
>See ya and thanks again for reading : D<p> 


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